


Who Says This Can't Be Love?

by JustALifelongPhase



Series: We Love Through Hate [2]
Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-01
Updated: 2017-05-01
Packaged: 2018-10-26 01:39:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10776762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustALifelongPhase/pseuds/JustALifelongPhase
Summary: Root and Shaw have been dating for a couple of years when Shaw meets a young girl who she bonds with surprisingly quickly.A sequel to You Bug The Hell Out of Me. You can read this by itself, but a few things might make more sense if you read that one first





	Who Says This Can't Be Love?

**Author's Note:**

> As you may have seen on tumblr I was toying with the title "What is Love?" But that would have repercussions I was not willing to commit to so we got this title instead. Thanks so much to everyone who continues to leave kudos and comments on this series first work because those emails make my day!

“Shaw, you watch the kid. And if she says something important, write it down.” One of her coworkers said as he hurried past. They’d just made a huge bust involving the Russian mafia and had found a girl, about ten years old. She was currently sitting on a chair near Shaw’s desk, idly swinging her feet.

“What the hell makes you think I’m good with kids?” She muttered, but things were hectic, she had a job to do, and apparently it was babysitting. She sat down at her desk, muttering about misogynistic fuckwads with their heads up their asses.

“You swear a lot.” The girl commented. Shaw raised an eyebrow at her,

“Are you even old enough to know what swear words are?”

“I’m ten, not two.” The girl told her, “And I don’t need you to watch me.” Shaw shrugged,

“Look, if I could avoid it I would, but it’ll be my ass if I don’t. So just because you don’t want to be watched, and I don’t want to do the watching, doesn’t mean that I can just let you run around.” The girl gave a smirk that was uncannily mature for her age.

“You don’t spend a lot of time around kids, do you?”

“Not even when I was one.” Shaw told her, “And I don’t have any toys or anything. I could ask around if you need something. Just…tell me if you get hungry or need the bathroom or something.”

“I don’t play with toys.” The girl said, wrinkling her nose, clearly implying that she was _far_ too grown up for something so trivial. Shaw looked at her,

“Okay, what do you do, kid?”

“I’m a spy. And my name isn’t kid.” Shaw almost smiled. _A spy, huh?_

“Okay, spy girl, what’s your name?”

“Genrika Zhirova. But call me Gen. What about you, cop lady?”

“Detective Sameen Shaw. But call me Shaw.” Shaw told her, “So, Gen, which spy agency are you with?” The girl hesitated.

“I’m…currently doing freelance work.” She said loftily. Shaw was moderately impressed by the answer. This was an interesting kid.

“Freelance, huh? So…I could get some information from you?” Gen made a show of thinking about it, tapping a finger to her lips several times before nodding,

“What will you pay?” She asked. Shaw opened a drawer in her desk that she kept full of snacks, although she’d had to replenish it twice as much since John had found out about it.

“I have…a couple of chocolate bars and a bag of chips.” Shaw said, tossing them onto the table. Gen shook her head,

“You already said you’d feed me if I got hungry. You can’t pay me with food after that.”

“Think you’re smart, huh?” Shaw asked. Gen just gave her a challenging look. Shaw sighed, “Fine, what do you want?”

“How about…you ask me a question, then I’ll ask you one.” Gen suggested. Shaw nodded,

“Information for information? Sounds fair. I’ll start. Why were you in that house?”

“My cousin Vladim was one of the guys you busted. I live with him, so when he’s gonna be there a while I have to go too. My turn. Do you have a boyfriend?”

“Why does that even matter?” Shaw asked, looking up from where she had been writing down the kid’s words. Gen looked unimpressed,

“You already asked your question. And I get to pick whatever I want.” Shaw rolled her eyes,

“Fine. No, I live with my girlfriend.”

“Are you gay?” Gen asked. Shaw raised an eyebrow,

“You already asked your question.” She echoed, “Do you have any other relatives?”

“No, my mom was arrested for protesting, then I went to live with my grandpa, but he died. Vlad’s the only one left, but he doesn’t do a lot to take care of me. Now he can’t even do that. Are you gay?”

“Bisexual.” Shaw told her, “That means…” 

“I know what it means.” Gen told her, “I’m a spy, I hear a lot of conversations. I was just wondering.” Shaw nodded,

“Fair enough. Do you know what they were doing in that house?”

“Packing up drugs.” Gen said, “They wouldn’t let me see anything but I can find out a lot. Especially when I’m bored. Are you gonna marry your girlfriend?” Shaw almost accidentally snapped her pen.

“I haven’t really thought about it.” She said, “Why are you so caught up on my relationship?”

“I’m a ten year old girl, all I care about is true love.” Gen told her, batting her eyes sweetly. Shaw narrowed her eyes at her but Gen was already asking her next question, “What are you guys gonna do with me?”

“We’ll try and see if you have any relatives that maybe you don’t know about.” Shaw told her, “If not, we’ll have someone take you to someone who can take care of you.”

“Like a foster home?” Shaw ignored the double question,

“Yeah, a foster home. It’s okay, me and my brother both…” Shaw stopped talking after she heard a commotion. She automatically stood and placed herself between the source of the noise and Gen. A guy with a wild look in his eyes pushed past the cops holding him and ran into the room. Shaw tackled him to the ground, giving the others a chance to cuff him. They nodded their thanks to her as they escorted him away. Shaw straightened her clothes and sat back down at her desk. Gen was staring at her with wide eyes.

“You just stopped Pavlo. Weren’t you scared?” Shaw shrugged,

“Yeah, I don’t really get that.”

“You don’t get scared?” Shaw shrugged,

“Nope. Happy, scared…angry…I actually do angry okay. But the rest of it, not really.”

“What about love?”

“Not really.”

“What about your girlfriend?” Gen asked. Shaw hesitated,

“She knows how I am.” She told her. It wasn’t the same answer that a tiny voice inside of her was screaming, but she never heard that part anyway.

“Anyway, I’m gonna call someone who can help you out, find you somewhere to stay and everything.” Shaw said, picking up her phone.

Iris was the one who came to pick Gen up. She smiled when she saw Shaw.

“Hey there, Shaw. How are things? Still living with Root?” She asked. Shaw nodded,

“Yeah, about to go there as soon as you get the kid out of here. Got a place for her?” Iris nodded,

“For now. These people only do short term fosters as a rule. We’ll see where things go. Come on, sweetie, lets get you somewhere you can stay.” Gen started to follow Iris before turning back to Shaw,

“Hey, could I come talk to you sometimes?” Shaw blinked,

“Yeah, sure. If it’s okay with who you’re staying with. And don’t get in the way of my job or anything.” Gen nodded,

“Cool. Bye Shaw.”

“See you, spy girl.” Shaw told her. She nodded to Iris before grabbing her things and turning to go. 

 

—

 

“How was work, babe?” Root asked, giving Shaw a quick kiss when she walked in the door.

“Busy. And I got babysitting duty.” Shaw told her. Root laughed softly,

“Sameen Shaw, babysitting?” Shaw nodded,

“Yup. Kid was found in a house with a big drug bust. Her cousin was caught up in it all so Iris came to collect her.”

“And you were watching her?”

“Yup.” Root smiled,

“Without killing her?” Shaw rolled her eyes,

“She actually wasn’t that bad. You were way worse as a kid. This girl thinks she’s a spy. And was pretty interested in ‘Detective Shaw’s Girlfriend.’”

“Aw, Sameen, were you talking about me?” Root asked. Shaw shrugged,

“She was asking about you, I answered. So, sort of.” Root moved forward and kissed Shaw again, long and hard. Shaw hesitated for a moment before kissing her girlfriend back.

“Was there a reason for that?” Shaw asked once Root had pulled away. Not far, her arms were still wrapped around Shaw’s waist.

“I was happy and wanted to kiss you.” Root smiled, retrieving her arms, “Now come on, I already made dinner. If you distract me again it’ll get cold.”

Sure, Shaw was the distraction. She was fairly certain that Root was swinging her hips a little more on purpose. Root glanced behind her and Shaw knew she’d been caught staring. Root winked at her,

“Dinner first. You can have me for dessert.”

Shaw wasn’t too certain about love. But she could manage lust.

 

—

 

Gen visited Shaw at work three times in the next week. She sat on the chair next to Shaw’s desk, quietly doing homework after school. Shaw never had to ask her to leave, the girl packed up her things the second she saw Shaw start to close her computer. Gen would occasionally talk to Shaw, or ask questions, but she never talked about where she was staying, or the people she was with. Shaw didn’t ask. The kid would tell her if she wanted to.

“Do you want a ride home?” Shaw asked at the end of the third day that Gen visited. Gen looked up at her,

“It’s not a cop car, is it?” She asked, Shaw shook her head,

“Nope, it’s my car.” Gen nodded,

“Okay.”

She followed Shaw out and gave the address. The house they went to was fairly average looking. Shaw got out to walk Gen to the door.

“Hey, Shaw?” Gen asked. Shaw turned to her.

“I don’t think your feelings aren’t there. I think it’s more like a television with the volume turned super low. You just need to turn the volume up. Or listen real hard.”

Shaw wasn’t even quite sure why, but she pulled the girl in for a swift hug before leaving. The little part of her that had been crushed down for so long perked up. Shaw hadn’t heard it, but maybe somebody else had.

 

—

 

“Do you like kids?” Shaw asked. She and Root were cuddled on their couch not really paying attention to a movie. Root turned to her,

“Is this about the little spy girl you told me about?” She asked. Shaw shrugged,

“I was just wondering.” Root smiled,

“Well, if you’re hoping for kids by natural means, you and I are gonna need a little help.” She teased. Shaw scowled,

“I’m not trying to give birth.” Shaw told her, “I was just wondering if that was something you’d thought about.” Root’s smile softened a little and she looked at Shaw seriously,

“I’m not going to push it if it’s something you don’t want.” So she _had_ thought about it before, “But if you want to adopt or foster a kid, you know it’s a lot easier if you’re married.” Shaw swallowed.

“I know.” Was all she said. Was all she could safely say. The little part of her that she couldn’t hear liked how that sounded. The rest of her… Root loved her. They both knew that. Could Shaw even love her? They’d talked about it, when they started dating, of course. Root seemed okay with it. But Shaw wasn’t quite so sure.

It took a week of thought before she went to visit her mother. She used the key she still had for her parent’s house and let herself in, going directly to the studio that Grace spent almost all of her time in.

“Hey, Shaw! Good to see you!” Grace didn’t seem surprised to see Shaw. She never seemed surprised, she just smiled. Shaw went to the chair that had sat against the wall for years, the one that she had occupied every time she’d sat and talked to Grace.

“A kid’s been visiting me at work. Not because she needs help from the cops. Just because she wants to, I guess.” Shaw said without preamble. Grace kept painting, but hummed to show she was listening.

“I never thought about having kids. At all.” Shaw told her, “But Gen’s a good kid, and the place she’s staying might kick her out whenever. Iris said that they usually only do short term fosters.”

“Have you been thinking about taking her in?” Grace asked, “You’d have a chance, but it’s easier if you’re…”

“Married. I know.” Shaw said. Grace smiled slightly,

“What does Root think?” She asked. Shaw shrugged,

“I don’t know. I mean, she’d probably love the idea of marriage. It sounds like it would be her thing. But I mean…”

Grace glanced at Shaw for a moment, but didn’t press. Shaw got her thoughts together,

“I don’t hate the idea, but I’m not sure if it would be fair. To her.” Grace put down her brush and moved to Shaw.

“Shaw, you don’t feel love the same way the rest of us do. Harold and I figured that out a long time ago, I think John figured it out even before us. Trust me when I say Root knows it too. It doesn’t change how much we love you. And just because you feel it differently, doesn’t mean it isn’t there.”

“But…”

“No buts.” Grace said, going back to her painting, “Root’s known you since you were a couple of little girls fighting over bathrooms and video games. And just because you don’t see your love doesn’t mean she doesn’t. Remember when she got hit by that car? You would have been ready to kill the driver if he’d survived.”

“He hurt Root.” Shaw growled, still angry at the memory. Grace nodded,

“Yes, and I’m not saying I approve of that kind of violence, but that was a way of you showing you cared. You’re angry because you care, Shaw.”

Shaw sat quietly for a little while, thinking about what Grace had said. Finally she stood up to go home.

“Shaw?” Grace stopped her on her way out the door, “I think you should give Root a little more credit. She can decide what she wants. And she wants you.”

Shaw just gave a nod to show she’d heard before leaving.

She made it home to see Root blasting music and dancing around the apartment while she cleaned. Shaw leaned against the door and shook her head at her girlfriend’s antics. Root turned around and saw her. Her eyes widened in surprise, but instead of stopping, she took Shaw’s hand and pulled her into a dance.

“Just like prom.” She said with a wink. Shaw’s mouth quirked up at one corner at the memory.

She wasn’t really sure what this was, but as she was slowly drawn into Root’s dance she thought that love might not be the worst word for it.

**Author's Note:**

> If you feel like sending me prompts or seeing me rant and flail feel free to check out PhaseWriter on tumblr!


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